FAYETTEVILLE — In the week following Bret Bielema’s firing as Arkansas football coach last fall, Jared Cornelius looked at transfer options out of Fayetteville.
Graduating in December, Cornelius would have one season of eligibility remaining and would have been able to play immediately wherever he chose.
“During the coaching search, you hear rumors about coaches and stuff,” Cornelius said. “You never want to just get lost in the mix, especially when you only have one year of eligibility left.”
During his search process, Cornelius called his former roommate, Rafe Peavey, now a quarterback at SMU. Cornelius was intrigued with what Peavey told him about the Mustangs’ program.
“All he could say was good things about the staff and the offense, and Coach (Chad) Morris on and off the field,” Cornelius said. “It was kind of funny how stuff works out in your favor.”
The next week, Morris was hired as Arkansas’ coach and Cornelius was sold on remaining part of the Razorbacks’ program.
“You look at the guys they put out at SMU,” Cornelius said. “Courtland Sutton was the No. 1 guy, in my opinion, in the draft this year. Trey Quinn, Mr. Irrelevant (the final pick in the NFL Draft), led the nation in receptions.
“When you say you have one year left to play college football, you want to get the ball. His offense was everything I was looking for in my last hurrah.”
Cornelius has many of the intangibles Morris and his offensive staff search for, too, but his best trait in 2018 might be his experience at a position without much.
“I’ve been in and out of the wide receiver meeting rooms,” Morris said. “He’s very vocal. He’s extremely intelligent. That’s been impressive.”
Cornelius has played in 36 games and has recorded 79 receptions for 1,163 yards and 10 touchdowns during a career that has been plagued by injuries, including an Achilles rupture on the first play of the second half against Texas A&M last September that ended his first senior campaign. Fortunately for Cornelius, the injury happened in the third game he played, the cutoff for a medical redshirt.
“You talk about things working out as perfectly as possible,” Cornelius said. “I’m going to be in an offense where I can catch twice as many balls in a game as I did before. It actually bought me more time and another year to get around a staff that is totally different. Sometimes, you need a change and you need something different.”
Cornelius was held out of contact this spring while he completed his rehabilitation. He said he spent four months having to sit around and wait, then spent the next couple of months learning to walk.
“You take for granted being able to walk and run until you literally have to teach yourself to strike your heel on the ground and roll to your toe,” Cornelius said.
Wearing a green no-contact jersey, Cornelius was able to practice most days this spring and thinks the new offense has elements that are perfect for his speedy, 5-11 frame.
“This offense kind of fits me more,” Cornelius said. “I feel comfortable in the slot and that’s where they want me to play. It’s a lot of quick hitters that get the ball into your hands. Coach Morris likes to say you get the ball to guys who make plays, and that’s what this offense is all about. We’re going to take shots downfield and make a name off that, but a lot of stuff we do is quick, 3-yard routes, make a guy miss and go score a touchdown. That’s what I love to do.”
Cornelius has not played a full season since he was a freshman in 2014 and he has missed 15 games to various injuries.
In 2015, he broke his arm during a game against Texas Tech in Fayetteville. He required surgery and had a metal plate inserted in the arm, but returned four weeks later for the Razorbacks’ four-overtime home win over Auburn. He had a touchdown reception two weeks later during a wild overtime win at Ole Miss and the following week, broke open a game at LSU with a 69-yard touchdown run.
In 2016, Cornelius was held out of the Texas State game with a sore back and out of the Belk Bowl against Virginia Tech because of a knee injury. Another back injury limited him in the 2017 spring and preseason, and he was used minimally in the Razorbacks’ season-opening win over Florida A&M last August.
Coaches had big plans for him during the second game last season against TCU. Cornelius was targeted five times, but dropped three passes — including one the first play of the game — and finished with only two catches for 17 yards.
“I probably played one of the worst games of my life,” Cornelius said. “I was out of shape and felt slow, sluggish, and that may have been because I missed most of fall camp. I just wasn’t ready to play on Saturday. Me and the staff came up with a plan to make sure that was never going to happen again. That meant eating right, working out right — two to three times conditioning a day.
“TCU, I weighed 215 pounds. Two weeks later against Texas A&M, I weighed in at 204 prior to the game. The way I played the first half, I felt good and was just ready to play. Then I go out the second half and get hurt, but I kind of told myself that I had given myself more time to prepare like that for every game.”
A year earlier, Cornelius had become the first Arkansas receiver in 20 years to record three consecutive 100-yard games, doing so against Texas A&M, Alcorn State and Alabama. A week later, he had the game-winning touchdown run in the final two minutes against Ole Miss.
He submitted his name to the NFL’s draft advisory board and received a projection that he would be selected in the fourth or fifth round if he left Arkansas early. The board suggests underclassmen return to school with any grade below second round.
It was unfathomable then to think he would still be in Arkansas two years later, but that’s where he finds himself, unremorseful about what some might view as a run of bad luck.
“I had some serious thought about leaving early,” Cornelius said. “Me and the staff made the decision that I should stick around. Then I got hurt and you start thinking, ‘Dang, did I make the wrong decision?’
“Everything has panned out perfectly. I’m getting in better shape, so it’s helping me out in the long run.”
This story was published in the June 2018 edition of Hawgs Illustrated